RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

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Squire Grooktook
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RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Yo this guy is the biggest hazard for me on stage 3.

The 4 lightning whips criss crossing eachother on top of the aimed shots and environmental hazards would be bad enough, but what really gets me is when you're forced to swap colors just as a same colored lighting pod explodes: showering you with a clusterfuck of random opposite colored bullets.

I've watched a few replays, but I can't seem to nail any concrete tricks down to controlling this guy. Is this just pure dodging, or are there any strats that can make the fight easier?
RegalSin wrote:Japan an almost perfect society always threatened by outsiders....................

Instead I am stuck in the America's where women rule with an iron crotch, and a man could get arrested for sitting behind a computer too long.
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Erppo
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by Erppo »

Everyone seems to do that part differently because it doesn't really matter what you do as long as you kill the thing quickly. Taking out both lasers of one colour first as fast as possible is probably the easiest way though.
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Ah okay, so it's just pure dodging eh. Guess I'll just have to brush up on my skills.
RegalSin wrote:Japan an almost perfect society always threatened by outsiders....................

Instead I am stuck in the America's where women rule with an iron crotch, and a man could get arrested for sitting behind a computer too long.
Aeon Zenith - My STG.
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

SCRATCH WHAT I SAID ABOVE, I figured out the trick.

So basically, what I saw people doing in replays was firing off the homing shot right before switching colors. But that's not all there is to it. The homing shot prioritizes the closest target, so you should only fire it off when the opposite colored lighting orbs are directly in front of the boss. If you don't do this, you risk hitting the same colored orbs and spawning suicide bullets. Focusing on speed killing two orbs of the same color with this in mind, and he becomes a lot less threatening.

With this in mind, I went from game overing on him repeatedly in practice mode, to no missing him 3-4 times in a row (two of which were in live runs). Thanks to this I also made it to the final stage for the first time!
RegalSin wrote:Japan an almost perfect society always threatened by outsiders....................

Instead I am stuck in the America's where women rule with an iron crotch, and a man could get arrested for sitting behind a computer too long.
Aeon Zenith - My STG.
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ciox
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by ciox »

Ha, that's what you get for staying away from scoring for so long, you would have figured out the homing lasers preference for proximity right away since it's essential for chaining everywhere and especially to chain Shigi (this midboss)
Really recommend playing the game for score alongside survival, you will get to make use of more of its mechanics (like homing proximity, how homing can penetrate through terrain and how you can carefully charge up just 3-6-9 homing lasers to destroy enemies and keep your chain) and overall enjoy it more.
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

^^^I do actually. Basically, as I practice stages, I work in more and more chains the more proficient I become at surviving them. So once I have a section down till it's consistent-ish or trivial, I start trying to figure out how to improve my chains during it.

So far, I'm only able to full chain (though not optimally) the first two stages. Stage 3 almost but there are a few problem spots I haven't quite figured out yet.

Honestly, I enjoy chaining in this game much more then any DDP game.
RegalSin wrote:Japan an almost perfect society always threatened by outsiders....................

Instead I am stuck in the America's where women rule with an iron crotch, and a man could get arrested for sitting behind a computer too long.
Aeon Zenith - My STG.
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Ebbo
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by Ebbo »

Squire Grooktook wrote:Basically, as I practice stages, I work in more and more chains the more proficient I become at surviving them. So once I have a section down till it's consistent-ish or trivial, I start trying to figure out how to improve my chains during it.
I think this might be the best way to enjoy the game overall . The feeling I get when people bash Ikaruga's scoring system for being too heavy on memorization (of which there certainly is no lack off, don't get me wrong) is that they simply try to mimic the superplay routes to a tee from the very start and get burned quickly out of frustration. There is really no need for that because the game pretty much lets you to choose your own battles on this regard since chaining isn't time based. Is a certain part too hard to chain? Well simply concentrate on survival or improvise more easier route for now and return once your skill set has improved.
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Squire Grooktook
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by Squire Grooktook »

Yup, also:
Ebbo wrote:The feeling I get when people bash Ikaruga's scoring system for being too heavy on memorization (of which there certainly is no lack off, don't get me wrong)
The feeling I get is "you are all hilariously hypocritical for liking Dodonpachi's scoring system, then".
RegalSin wrote:Japan an almost perfect society always threatened by outsiders....................

Instead I am stuck in the America's where women rule with an iron crotch, and a man could get arrested for sitting behind a computer too long.
Aeon Zenith - My STG.
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mastermx
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by mastermx »

I think everyone has a lot of trouble when they first run into the stage 3 midboss. I found that the best thing to do was to release as I switch colours like you said. It also helps if one colour is taken out as fast as possible making the rest of the battle easier. I honestly think this is my favourite midboss of any shmup. The twisty pattern to the bullets is just engrossing. As to the chaining, I first practice survival of an area first before chaining it. But I don't attempt to chain like in the super plays, especially segments that are too difficult execution wise, brick by brick step by step and the execution heavy parts don't seem execution heavy the better you get at the mechanics.
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DKA_Darius
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Re: RQ: Ikaruga stage 3 midboss (Normal Difficulty)

Post by DKA_Darius »

The easiest way to pass this midboss is just don't shoot and focus on change your color and avoid the environmental block :D
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